Wednesday, November 27, 2013

This shoot is from the 11th Stage of the 2007 Tour of Murray River in Victoria, Australia. Wind back to the previous day which was an out and back 80km stage of fast undulating roads, I was keen and determined not to get shelled in the early cross wind so I took flight down the inside of the bunch on the gravel..big risk but I was willing to take it and it backfired on me. Boom, front tubular went smack into a rock. The next 75km were long and annoying after I couldn't claw back on the bunch but I was fired up by the end of the day for the following days criterium.Stage 11, 42km on a perfect criterium course which had a small hill heading up to the finish line. After warming up on the course I got my team manager Stu Sanders to put a radio on me so he talk to me during the stage and let me know of any attacks that were brewing on the hill climb. This plan worked perfect. I was in the action from the get go and slipped away in a few moves which eventually led to the winning move of the stage. In the photo above Peter MacDonald (eventual winner of the tour), Jack Bobridge (2007 Junior Team Pursuit World Champion) and Sean Finning (2006 Commonwealth Games Points Races Champion) and myself led the charge for line honours. Looking back on this day I should've sat on more because I was well down on GC and with Peter and Jack wanting more time from the higher GC riders in the peleton it was going to be their lose. To the finish, I ended up 4th on the line but was awarded the "Most Aggressive Rider Jersey" for my efforts and was well pleased with the stage ride, earlier in the tour I picked up a 7th and a 3rd place on stage 7 in a similar situation to stage 11.

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Time has flown! Far out it’s been over a year and a half since my last blog, so long in fact I had a few attempts to get into my blog as I’d forgotten my password haha.

Since my last blog back in March 2012 we’ve sorted a house which we are caretaking for the bank, so home is in the mighty Wainuiomata (where the girls are smarter)….just 5 minutes pedal from some of the best tracks in Wellington. We have been enjoying our first year with our beaut little girl Casey in our lives and we are trying to maintain as many of our passions in life that we can around spending loads of time together.

Casey is a cool little girl. Luckily she enjoys the wee adventures Bex and I get up to, she loves being outside with her bare feet hooning round splashing in the water, we love the days when she tuckers out with mud under her fingernails.

We always said we wanted both of us to have some time with Casey at home, about 3 months ago we made it happen and did the big switch up. So I’m a full time at home Dad and Bex is the sugar mumma! Best thing ever….lads, if you get a chance (read: If your wife lets you!) DO IT!! I love it, I’ve said to a few people that you can have as many jobs in your life as you want but having the opportunity to really get to know your little one is a very special time. Bex misses the days with Casey but someone has to work and I’m lucky she is happy to enable the time for me with Casey.

So busy days for all round here! My riding is all about bang for buck … get out, go hard, be back home quick so I can hang with my two lovelies. Been a big aim to just make sure we both have the chance to get out and do something each day even if it’s not as much as was done before Casey arrived. Normally winter is my most disliked season, its cold, wet and miserable. I’m a bit of a wimp when it comes to being cold and wet, not normally my preference at all. This winter though, cyclocross came into my life and it was the best cold, wet and miserable day fun that I’ve ever had.

The Bike Hutt bike crew put on a brilliant eight race series which went through to the New Zealand Champs which was perfect. My first plan was to learn how to race cyclocross then be competitive with moustache man Alex Revell who spent our NZ summer ripping through foot deep Belgian mud and fighting angry locals into rutted corners. The first race of the season was an eye opener, I wasn’t fit, my tires were near 60psi in slippery mud and off camber corners, my lungs were burning a long with my legs swelling with lactic acid and I was nearly lapped by Alex but managed a 3rd. This race set my match, I learnt heaps, I knew what I needed to be fast, I read internet articles and trained smart. What was to come over the next month was motivating and I turned to tables round to be able to match Alex and then went on to beat him in a few few years nearer Nationals time, then I booked my tickets to the deep south. I think I had him worried, but, being on form for a one off hit out is a fine art and for me I wasn’t on top of my health on race day where he was.

Wanaka was the setting for the New Zealand Champs, not the usual wet, mud, cold day you’d expect for a cyclocross race in winter but not all races in Europe are loaded with mud and rain either. There were 5 of us who could win on the day, it was all guns blazing from the gun and any small mistake would cost you a few seconds that couldn’t be pulled back. A long with my poor health I was fighting the whole time with cramps I hadn’t experienced all season plus a few panic moments where seconds were getting gained by the 2 guys in front, with about 15mins to go I was set on holding on to 3rd place, perfect result for the day and a brilliant race by Alex to win a well deserved NZ Cyclocross title, 2nd place went to the 2012 NZ Champion Gary Hall.

Thanks to everyone who has been checking out my blog over the last wee while. I will be keeping it much more updated from now on about life, racing and general yarns about the sport, it’s a massive passion of mine and hopefully I can inspire you to make it your passion aswell.

Enjoy the riding/racing you choose to do and I may bump into on the trails or road one day.

About Me and My Bike...

I'm 32. I'm married to my lovely wife Bex, we have a beautiful wee girl, Casey who was born on 24th October 2012. We live in the mighty Wainuiomata.
I started racing bikes back in 1992, first on the Mountain Bike, then got into Road and Track cycling when I was 13. BMX and Downhill occupied me for a few seasons before some broken bones led me away from the big jumps and drops. Since 2003 Road and Mountain Bike have been my focus and this year I hit the Cyclocross bike for the first time after wanting to do it for the last few years, and now with time being precious with having wee Casey in our lives the short intense racing and training works for me perfectly. I still really enjoy the odd National Mtb race and the occasional local road event. Racing is in my blood and it will go away, the shorter and harder the event the more I thrieve which makes Cyclocross perfect.